Top 10 Places to Take Your JUCY Condo in Australia

Narrowing down a list of places to go and see in Australia is a nearly impossible task. Opportunities abound for adventure in this massive land down under, and it is truly difficult to condense the experiences into a Top 10 list. Regardless, I'll give it a try.

Top 10 Most Memorable Experiences while Traveling in a JUCY Condo:

01. Picnicking at Mt. Tomah Botanic Gardens at Blackheath

Make sure to skip the area closest to the parking lot, and opt instead for the grassy picnic area in the park.


Visiting Mt. Tomah Botanic Gardens is free and exploring this park with gorgeous views of the UNESCO World Heritage Blue Mountains can take you hours.

02. Going to the Featherdale Wildlife Park

Admission is only $28 for an adult, and Featherdale doesn't charge extra for you to be photographed petting a koala. This excellent park is obviously dedicated to tending injured animals and providing them a safe home.

You can marvel at the song of a kookaburra, feed kangaroos and wallabies, or enjoy gazing upon the wombats, koalas, dingoes, penguins, bats, emus, peacocks, large eagles/falcons and other birds of prey, and some reptiles too. There is even a barnyard animal petting zoo. This park is an excellent place to spend a few hours.

03. Feasting on Fredo Pies in Frederickton after visiting the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie

The Koala Hopsital in Port Macquarie rehabilitates injured koalas in hopes of setting them back into the wild. The Koala Hospital is also fairly close to the Port Macquarie library where you can access free, responsive wifi. We went to the free 3pm koala talk and made it to Fredo Pies for dinner. Fredo Pies is an award-winning pie shop with flaky, buttery crusts and a massive number of choice fillings. Inspiring day with incredible food.

04. Stepping back in time at the Trial Bay Gaol ruins

The Trial Bay Gaol ruins show a side of Australian history you might not see elsewhere, plus we spotted a whale from the gorgeous coastline view. Minutes away is the towering and pretty Smoky Cape Lighthouse, another great whale seeking spot. We loved the freedom of getting to tour the ruins without hordes of people and the South West Rocks area offers great camping and hiking.

05. Enjoying the best view of the Brisbane skyline from the main strip of the town of Coolangatta

Coolangatta offers a great beach and park with an incredibly photographable backdrop of Brisbane. Parking is free and it's a great place to picnic.

View of Brisbane from Coolangatta

06. Fossicking in White Cliffs

Fossicking in White Cliffs is great fun for those who wish to get a bit off of the beaten path. While in White Cliffs, you can also view the underground abodes of artists and residents in this opal mining town. (You don't have to get off of sealed roads to fossick, and it is completely legal to noodle without a license as long as nobody already has a claim. The sides of the main road are fair game.)

07. Indulging in a spider, waffle sundae, or milkshake at Bell's Milk Bar in Broken Hill

We couldn't get enough of Bell's Milk Bar, so we went twice. Once after exploring the town of Broken Hill, and the other after visiting Silverton, the Mundi Mundi Overlook, and the Living Desert Sculptures. Bell's Milk Bar offers a free strong wifi connection with purchase and free parking for your JUCY out front.

08. Escaping on Kangaroo Island

The Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch on Kangaroo Island are some of the coolest formations ever seen. There is an abundance of kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, seals, sea lions, and even some fairy penguins on this excellent island. (Plus, driving backwards onto the ferry is quite an experience.) Highly recommended for nature lovers, but give yourself a few days there.

09. Visiting the World Heritage-listed Naracoorte Caves National Park

There are 26 limestone caves in the Naracoorte Caves National Park, and some house the fossilised skeletons of giant marsupials. Make sure to take a tour of the Alexandra Cave; it has some of the prettiest and most delicate formations you'll likely ever see. There are tours of the various caves at different times during the day, so stay local so you can devote the day for cave exploration.

10. Laughing at the giraffes at the Werribee Open Range Zoo

Australia has a lot of wide open spaces. The town of Werribee has taken advantage, and they have established the Werribee Open Range Zoo. Situated over more hectares than I can fathom, this zoo has created an open air African safari-type adventure. Make sure to take the 90-minute open vehicle adventure for the most memorable experience with African wildlife you can have short of visiting an African safari.

Truth be told...no matter what you do...no matter where you go...you'll have a fabulous time.  It's about the adventure - not the destination - and the JUCY Condo is the perfect way to get you there.



*I was provided a discount for writing this blog article, but all opinions are my own.  We were truly sad to have to turn in our JUCY Condo at the end of our journey.

Australian Adventure (Tuesday, July 09, 2013)

40 Days Down Under (Day 26)

Tuesday, July 09, 2013
We cleaned up our JUCY Lucy (which Kris has been calling Nancy Cartwright in his never-ending attempt to annoy me with Simpsons quotes this trip) to ready her for return. Then poor Kris had to drive downtown to the Radisson Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne so we could drop off our luggage.

After dropping off our luggage, the GPS tells us it's time to do a right turn. Ack!

You see, Melbourne is a crazy city that has created its own system of right turns that differ from anywhere else in the world (or that I know of anyway). It's called a hook turn, and poor Kris had to complete one. It requires that you get in the left lane, sit in the middle of the intersection through the entire green light, wait until the light turns red, then, when the approaching traffic has a green light, you turn right.

Naturally, Kris had one Simpsons quote or another applicable to the situation. I swear that less than 1% of what he's said this trip has been an original thought.

And, for those curious like Bart Simpson, the toilet down here in Australia doesn't have the water flow in the opposite direction than home in the USA. It all kind of just sluices down the middle. The commodes are quite different than those back home. They do seem to waste less water.

Before returning our car, I made Kris take me to Brighton Beach to see the iconic Brighton Beach boxes. They are even cooler in person. So colorful!

This doggie loved the beach.

We grabbed lunch at Lentil As Anything in St. Kilda. It's a vegetarian restaurant with a pay what you can philosophy. I found the food a bit spicy, but it was good. I got a potato burger. Kris got some Moroccan Hot Pot spicy curry dish.

We bid adieu to our JUCY and grabbed a taxi to the Melbourne Aquarium. (It's actually less expensive and far more expedient to take a cab during the middle of the day than to attempt to take the public transport which requires you purchase a Myki card from a 7-11 and "load" it with the required tram fare.)

The Melbourne Aquarium has some neat penguins and seahorses. We also saw some spectacular leafy sea dragons.

I love the fluffy one!

Black tie dinner

We enjoyed the fish and other aquatic creatures, but it was far too crowded when we went.

The fish and ray feeding was quite cool to witness. They have some big sharks, turtles, and rays in their tanks. It's even more awesome to hear how they've trained various creatures to eat from certain areas in particular ways.

We made sure to check in all the nooks and crannies before heading out.

They have a Kris in the aquarium!

After leaving the aquarium, we spent some time walking around Melbourne. The aquarium has a fantastic view of the city.

Melbourne seems to be very artistic.

I really enjoyed seeing the Federation Square Street Art.

Melbourne has actually designated several streets as being legal for street art. Street art includes murals and paste-ups - genuine art. It does not include graffiti. Graffiti tagging is ugly and illegal everywhere in the city.

Post-It Wall

Loved the 3D effect they added to TIME.  You see it best when standing below and looking up.

Someone knew he was coming.

The interior city center area of Melbourne has some fantastic free public transportation. We took the free city circle tram closer to our hotel and had dinner in a local mall food court. The mall was built around an old factory and the smokestack. The building portion is now a store. Really spectacular to look up as you ride the escalator up.

Finally found a man-hole cover for Carol.

We called it an early night and retired to our room at the Radisson Flagstaff Gardens to repack our bags so that we could fly to Perth in the morning.